Simulation of the optical properties of plate aggregates for application to the remote sensing of cirrus clouds

In regions of deep tropical convection, ice particles often undergo aggregation and form complex chains. To investigate the effect of the representation of aggregates on electromagnetic scattering calculations, we developed an algorithm to efficiently specify the geometries of aggregates and to compute some of their geometric parameters, such as the projected area. Based on in situ observations, ice aggregates are defined as clusters of hexagonal plates with a chainlike overall shape, which may have smooth or roughened surfaces. An aggregate representation is developed with 10 ensemble members, each con-sisting of between 4–12 hexagonal plates. The scattering properties of an individual aggregate ice par-ticle are computed using either the discrete dipole approximation or an improved geometric optics method, depending upon the size parameters. Subsequently, the aggregate properties are averaged over all geometries. The scattering properties of the aggregate representation closely agree with those com-puted from 1000 different aggregate geometries. As a result, the aggregate representation provides an accurate and computationally efficient way to represent all aggregates occurring within ice clouds. Furthermore, the aggregate representation can be used to study the influence of these complex ice par-ticles on the satellite-based remote sensing of ice clouds. The computed cloud reflectances for aggregates are different from those associated with randomly oriented individual hexagonal plates. When aggre